Thursday, July 03, 2008

My first dogless Wednesday morning I was rudely awakened by some activist group marching down a nearby street around 9AM with some guy singing a call-and-response style chant into a bullhorn loudly enough that I could distinguish every word he said from the crumpled morass of pillows and blankies. I think they were foaming-at-the-mouth-supporters of Obama. Keep the change, indeed. Bastards.

I did get a good night of sleep, perhaps in part due to the cumulative exhaustion of more than a week of worry and poor sleep. I made it through the day without crying, except for misting up once at lunch. After work, my heart broke as I slipped my key in the door and I scrambled in to dissolve in private. Must get a grip.

Get a grip I did, as I went to my gun club to meet the lovely gunsmith and get my .38 S&W back from him. It's working much MUCH better now. I fired about 75 rounds through it with none of the former problem, namely a sort of sticking sensation which meant I couldn't pull the trigger all the way through. It's so much more smooth now. I had two types of .38 cartridge with me and the heavier ones I had much better accuracy with. I can't tell you why, but that seems to be the case-- any thoughts? I mean can cartridge weight effect accuracy, or could there have been other factors?

A couple guys introduced themselves to me and one let me shoot his dad's 1950 S&W .22 revolver. It was big, long, heavy and super-sweet, as I shot a group in the space of about a quarter from 10 yards without trying. That was fun. I told him the gunsmith had just done my trigger, and he politely asked if he might try it, because he was curious about the work done by that gunsmith. Turns out, his hands were too big for my .38 so he really didn't get a feel for it, at all, unfortunately. Still it was nice to chat with new people for a few minutes.

I am still loving shooting the Ruger Mark II, but I think my best shooting is with dad's High Standard .22 revolver(and with that other guy's dad's gun!). Plus revolvers are just FUN. Admit it: they're fun to handle and to load, and I don't need an extra accessory like the one I need to help me slip cartridges in the magazine of the Ruger.

Oh, and my blister is back. Someday I'll have a callous there, instead. Never thought I'd see the day when I'd be thrilled to have a callous on my index finger, but now I find I'm quite looking forward to it.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shall we start calling you Annie Oakly? ;)

Seriously, I'm glad you got out and did something you enjoy and had fun. My thoughts are with you.

*hugs*

Zdogk9 said...

Bullet weight will affect accuracy, I've one .45 that likes 200 grain SWC, another that likes 230 grain TC. Both loaded over the same amount of powder. Both are the same model, same length barrel same twist rate??????
Not much I can say about your dog, three years later I'll still feel Z beside me sometimes.

Anonymous said...

Heavier bullets in a given caliber will almost certainly be longer than the lighter ones, presuming they lighter ones aren't made out of some material unusual for the construction of bullets. An example would be the Barnes X-bullet, which is made entirely of copper. because it is longer, there is a greater area of the bullet which comes into contact with the bore as it is fired. This difference could certainly be enough to change how inherently accurate a load is. Many weapons have preferences for bullets in certain weight ranges. There are a lot of other factors that have to be considered, such as rate of twist of the rifling, so certainly don't consider my answer definitive. :D

phlegmfatale said...

lainy - Oh, I'm just having a good time, is all! Yeah, I'm going to go again this afternoon. Good therapy.

zdogk9 - It's funny, but your comment and zane's make me think I need to be taking careful notes on what I'm shooting and what works best. THanks!
And yeah, feeling her presence, I keep expecting to hear the click of her nails on the floor or the rattling of her tags.

zane - what I just said - this is making me think I need to keep careful notes, especially in these early days where I'm not so familiar with details and much is a blur. It's amazing the degree of subtleties there are to this art. Thanks so much!

NotClauswitz said...

The old '50s S&W .22 revolvers are The Gold Standard of .22s and highly sought-after, and if you're having more fun and success with a revolver than a semi-auto you're doing very well indeed since it's generally thought to be more difficult.

Sudiegirl said...

My dad would have appreciated your gun collection, m'dear. Very impressive.

The Captain said...

Bullet weight and the desired performance characteristics dictate the powder used to propel the bullet. Faster-burning powders will build pressure differently then slower-burning choices, changing the characteristics of felt recoil.

DW said...

Sweetie, Adding to what the captain said, the idea of a heavier bullet having a different velocity with the same powder in the same gun. Very true and very unpredictable, the harmonics of barrel vibration can make a large change in the point of impact. generally a lighter load will be more accurate due to lower pressures and less recoil and noise. Bottom line it dosen't matter, if you like the load, write it your shooting book and buy it when you have the chance.

Buck said...

I hear ya about coming home to an empty house, Phlegmmy. The greeting ritual between my two dogs and I was often the highlight of my day (and always fun, regardless of the type of day I'd had) and it literally took me years to adjust to not having that.

Hang in there. It WILL get better.